While the very smallest nonprofit organizations may not find it necessary, any organization with more than one or two employees should consider creating a written handbook outlining non-contractual employment terms and work conditions. This post takes a look at some general considerations for employee handbooks, details some of the content that should be included, points to resources to help your organization create a handbook and identifies one important area that might be missing from even seemingly comprehensive, existing handbooks.
The basics
Having a written employee handbook ensures everyone in the organization has received and is operating from the same information. This can eliminate any dispute as to whether basic employment information was communicated. To this end, all employees should be asked to acknowledge in writing their receipt of the handbook at the time they are hired and at any time the handbook is modified.
This consistent communication and acknowledgment may go a long way in protecting the organization in the event legal action is brought by a current or former employee. However, it is important the handbook not be construed as an employment contract. In particular, the handbook should reflect that employment is at will, and it should not contain any language suggesting employment can only be terminated for specific causes. Both the non-contractual nature of the handbook and the at-will nature of employment should be explicit in the handbook and in the employee’s written acknowledgment. In the absence of such declarations, courts in many states have construed handbooks as implied contracts.
Prior to implementation, a draft of the employee handbook should be reviewed by a qualified employment lawyer. It should then be reviewed and approved by the organization’s board of directors or trustees. Finally, the organization’s chief executive should be charged with ensuring the circulation and acknowledgment of the handbook.
The organization’s handbook should be reviewed periodically to reflect any changes in or clarifications of policy. Whenever the handbook is changed, all employees should receive a copy and again acknowledge its receipt.
Between the covers
The contents and specifics of an employment handbook will vary from organization to organization. However, there are certain areas that likely should be included by any organization, including:
- An introduction including the organization’s mission, history and philosophies.
- Rules pertaining to work schedules and hours and other details of attendance including types of excused absences and the process for notification of absences or tardiness.
- Pay and performance including a description of how salaries and any other compensation are determined and adjusted as well as the role and specifics of any performance management processes.
- A description of benefits including health and any other employer-provided insurance, paid time off, unpaid leaves and 403(b) or other retirement provisions. In some cases, especially for larger organizations or those with more benefit options, a separate benefits manual may be desirable.
- The organization’s substance abuse policy.
- Sexual harassment and discrimination policies that reflect the organization’s full compliance with applicable laws.
- Smoking policies especially where state or local laws may prohibit or restrict smoking.
- Any non-disclosure and/or conflict of interest policies.
- Policies regarding the use of information technology including security and privacy protocols.
- The organization’s media relations policy specifying who is authorized to speak with the media on the organization’s behalf.
- Any specific rules of conduct and disciplinary procedures. This should include the process by which employee complaints can be initiated and will be handled.
Reinvent the wheel?
Most organizations will not find it necessary to start from scratch when it comes to developing an employee handbook. Many published and online resources are available to help expedite and inform the process. Resources specific to nonprofit organizations include:
- From Community Resource Exchange, a free sample personnel policy manual
- From the Johnson Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership, Creating Your Employee Handbook: A Do-It-Yourself Kit for Nonprofits
- From the Nonprofit Risk Management Center, Taking the High Road: A Guide to Effective and Legal Employment Practices for Nonprofits
Other resources not specific to nonprofits but may be helpful in formulating and documenting policies include:
- Employee handbook resources at business.gov
- From Nolo, Create Your Own Employee Handbook
- Also from Nolo, the comprehensive and handy reference guide, The Employer’s Legal Handbook
Do you have one of these?
Information technology and media relations are mentioned above as suggested components of employee handbooks. The rapidly growing and important area of social media is a hybrid of these fields and has created the need for organizations to consider specific policies regarding employees’ use of social media networks and other platforms. Even organizations with existing, comprehensive employee handbooks may not have this area covered, and there is active debate and learning going on about what should be included and what are the best practices for policies in this area. Resources that may be helpful to organizations exploring or developing policies in this area include:
- An extensive database of social media policies from nonprofit & for-profit organizations
- A “community-sourced” draft social media policy, developed during a recent webinar conducted by Kivi Leroux Miller
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Nonprofit human resources professionals and organization leaders should consider the following questions:
- Does our organization have a written employee handbook? If not, should we?
- Does our handbook address each of the areas listed above?
- Does our organization have a social media policy?
- Are there any other areas that are (or should be) included in our manual?
- How recently have both our manual and policies been reviewed and revised?
- Do we have written acknowledgment from every employee that they have received the most current edition of the manual?
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Joe Brown is the Principal and Founder of Slope Resources, LLC. Slope Resources provides a range of human resources and organization management consulting services to nonprofit organizations of all types and sizes. Joe is also the author of the blog Done by People, which focuses on human resources and organization management in the third sector, and will be a presenter at the 2010 Nonprofit Human Resources Conference. For more information about Joe Brown and Slope Resources, please visit sloperesources.com.
photo credit: takomabibelot
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https://blog.execsearches.com/2010/05/12/whats-in-your-manual-nonprofit-employee-handbooks/
Last updated on June 25th, 2016 at 10:40 pm
Hello,
I hope you can help.
We are in the process of updating our personnel policies manual and a question arose about jury duty in New York State. Regular jury duty policies are rather straight forward, but I have found nothing about possible “grand jury” service and policies governing this as this might cause an (exempt) employee to be out for months.
Any guidance on this subject would be much appreciated.
William H. Frohlich